[Bryan Fuller]

Previously: Podcast 10.0A. Podcast 10.0B. Podcast 10.0C. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End And Friends. Offensive Tackle. Interior Offensive Line. Defensive Tackle. Defensive End.

Michigan returns two All Big Ten performers who were true sophomores a year ago and has a third guy who they're so hyped about that they're inventing a position for him, more or less. Weakside linebacker? Eh... it'll be fine.

VIPER: I HEAR THE VOICES IN MY HEAD THEY TELL ME TO TACKLE PEOPLE IN THE BACKFIELD ESPECIALLY IF THEY'RE GOPHEEEEEEEERS

Rating: 5.

HOPE YOU DIDN'T NEED THAT STERNUM [Bryan Fuller]

Look, man: it's a credibility issue. Recent events related to folks named McDoom and Norfleet may have dented the air of impregnable correctness and certainty this site lives up to on a daily, nay, hourly basis. So this is not a tooting of one's own horn. It is merely... a reminder of the trust you willingly and thankfully put into this site:

Yeah, Jabrill Peppers is gone. I'm not sweating it. I'm wearing a KHALEKE HUDSON [recruiting profile] fez, waving a Khaleke Hudson flag, and writing a PhD dissertation about Khaleke Hudson's senior highlight reel. Anyone who's read this site for a hot second knows its staff comprises the biggest Hudson fan group outside of his immediate family, and if he takes off like Michigan hopes he will they're going to have to really up their game at Christmas.

You probably shouldn't listen to us when the topic is an offensive skill player who should have gone to Oregon. But.. eh? Eh? Eh? Pretty good right?

Hudson stepped into Peppers's shoes with barely a hiccup. He was a lethal blitzer, sure tackler,—just three misses on the season—punishing hitter, and ... uh... largely untested cover guy. While his headline numbers were propped up by a desperate/dumb gameplan from Minnesota that led to an all-time program single-game TFL record, his play over the course of the season was as elite as the shiny TFL and sack numbers imply.

He missed zero tackles in run D, making 45. His pressure rate of nearly 30% is top ten nationally amongst returning back seven players. His 21 run stops leads returning Big Ten safeties. And he graded out better than Peppers, per PFF. This site had a difficult time deciding whether Hudson or Devin Bush was dreamier for much of the year.

Don't let the Minnesota game cloud your memory. Hudson wasn't just a free runner. He was capable of jetting past blockers who couldn't match his get-off...

#7 OLB to top of line

...and able to redirect inside OL worried about said get-off:

#7 OLB to top of line

And anyone who remembers Brandon Harrison can appreciate Hudson's ability to close under control when he is in fact given a free run:

And tackling? This guy's got more tackles than Michigan's entire roster /weeps in corner

[After THE JUMP: my bad on the tackles joke you guys]

On top of all that, Hudson is getting the sort of hype that you don't usually hear about established players. Lorenz highlighted him as "the most hype-y player" at one point, with folks telling him Hudson was headed for All-American. Isaiah Hole relayed that Hudson "has taken a major, major step forward."

The drawbacks, such as they are, are mostly implied. Hudson messed some stuff up, as first-year starters and second-year players are wont to do. Like Gary, these events were usually pass rush excitement getting in the way of run responsibility:

But there is an obvious issue that won't necessarily clear itself up with more experience and thus an answer to the question "how does Khaleke Hudson take a 'major major major major step forward'?" That would be coverage. Michigan frequently tasked Mike McCray with outside coverage when opponents went empty. This rarely went well, and when the opposition back was Saquon Barkley it went as disastrously as it had to. In the aftermath, this site pled with Don Brown to cut that crap out; it persisted. Hudson's blitzing is tough to lose, I'm sure, but the lack of a  switch there could be interpreted as a vote of no confidence in Hudson's cover skills. Arguing in favor is this Brown quote from spring:

“This Khaleke Hudson is playing at a tremendous level a year ago, and I think he’s a much better cover guy right now. He’s playing at a much faster rate. He should go kiss Ben Herbert on the lips because he’s helped him tremendously."

(There will be more kissing Ben Herbert on the lips later in this post.) There was some early chatter about Hudson picking up the defense more slowly than Josh Metellus when both were competing at safety as freshmen, and an OSU touchdown last November happened thanks to a big ol' Hudson bust. In a small way Hudson was a bit like Noah Furbush: not versatile enough for maximum effectiveness.

I have to imagine a large improvement in that department is what the hypers are talking about, because there's nowhere else to go with Hudson's blitzing and run D. FWIW, when Hudson was in position against WRs it went well...

#7 FS to bottom of screen

...but he did get left behind by some guys who are better than Air Force WRs.

A version of Hudson who can split out with RBs doesn't do his numbers any good but does plug the most obvious hole in last year's defense. A version of Hudson that manages to live up to internal program hype probably doesn't do much more, in terms of rabid squirrels comin' in hot to make numbers real big, but is in position in coverage often enough to make that a viable pattern, thus opening up free runs for his teammates when he backs out on the snap.

Other possibility: now he hits people so hard that he forces 65 fumbles.

"He is the best combination of strength, speed and burst I've seen in a long time," said Ruane. "Every tackle, run and block is violent with him. He will be playing on Sundays someday. And I'm happy he's graduating."

It could happen!

BACKUPS

one of these guys still has awesome hair [Patrick Barron]

After bouncing to safety and back and then to safety and back again—Brown said he "got kinda lost in the soup"—it feels like JORDAN GLASGOW has finally found a home as Hudson's #2. Brown is frank that Glasgow's cover deficiencies made him hard to play over slots, something that the move to viper obviates while allowing his strengths to come through:

"He’s a good blitzer. He’s strong enough to play in the run game. He’s a smart guy. Sometimes I’ve gotta punch him in the nose and say, ‘Stop talking!’ And he’s a good run defender. So, he has all the traits that we’re looking for.”

Jordan is a good run defender, and a good Glasgow. Harbaugh:

"Jordan Glasgow – it just hits you every day,” Harbaugh said. “He just takes every play – he goes hard every play. And he knows his assignment. As a coach, those are the two things you look for. Any football team, you stress the most – the thing we stress the most here is – that’s what you coach. That’s what we want you to do. We want you to play hard every single play, and know your assignments and do your job. And nobody does it better than Jordan Glasgow."

Glasgow has been almost entirely limited to special teams snaps thus far in his career so data is thin. What exists does suggest that Glasgow is the kind of safety-shaped object that can shed the occasional block and go get someone on the ground. His most famous play to date features him doing just that:

His 2016 season saw him named PFF's All Big Ten special teamer. (PFF temporarily discontinued their college content last year.)

Glasgow isn't likely to see much time unless something happens to Hudson, who was already an iron-man last year and projects to be even more critical this year. If something does happen, Glasgow will necessarily be a sizeable downgrade on the viper prototype. He shouldn't be a defense-crippling weak spot; he'd probably be average-ish, and with the talent around him that'll be just fine.

The other contender should Hudson come off the field is freshman MICHAEL BARRETT [recruiting profile]. This site was pretty pumped about Barrett as a multi-purpose offensive weapon; so was Jim Harbaugh, who compared him to Anquan Boldin. But a few weeks after his arrival Michigan shoved him over to viper, where he is still "this Michael Barrett" to Don Brown.

The potential early NFL entry of Hudson makes grooming a replacement a high priority and Barrett, a pounding quarterback who moonlit as a linebacker in high school, has the shape and general demeanor to pull it off. Al Washington:

"He's explosive, and just the feedback from the strength staff is he is a great worker and an accountable guy... which you're not surprised about because two time player of the year in Georgia is saying something,"... all the earmarks of a really dynamic player.... Great demeanor. Just a grinder type kid, smart."

Moving from quarterback to defense is a 100% redshirt situation; check back next year.

INSIDE LINEBACKER

RATING: 4.5

[Eric Upchurch]

DEVIN BUSH flew into the hearts of college football fans like a rabid squirrel in the opener against Florida when he launched himself through the Florida line and into the back of Felipe Franks. One of the best things about college football is the HOLY SHIT WHO IS THAT moment, and Devin Bush's was a solid #2 in recent Michigan annals.

Franks looks like he's fleeing from a rabid squirrel. The back didn't miss his assignment; he set up to block Bush and then Bush ghosted into the next gap. There he still had the angle and the speed to flush the QB and then run him down. That is a +3 from me. He had a blocker, he beat him, and he solo sacked.

Folks kind of expected that after Bush blew up the spring game, but it's one thing to do it in practice and another in a game.

Now he has a serious business haircut and traps.

One of these things is a good development. As a leading advocate of hair, I cannot condone the other. But anyway.

The Florida game kicked off a period of mayhem and destruction unmatched in the recent annals of Michigan linebacking. Bush is the very archetype of a modern spread-wrecking linebacker, a bullet to be inserted through the line of scrimmage.

Then word got out. Bush didn't start playing badly, but with every coaches' room in the Midwest desperately trying to crack the code before their date with doom squirrel a plateau was inevitable. By Indiana the opposition had got it in their heads that blocking Bush was a Good Idea. That didn't mean they could do it:

What happened to all of Bush's lovely sacks and TFLs?

He's still here making plays, man. IU did a better job of not allowing him free runs than previous opponents—something that was inevitably going to happen as he emerged into a star—and usually got a running back over to contest him. This didn't go well for the running back very often:

#10 MLB

At other times Bush reprised his spring game performance by just running the dude over. And despite this attention he should have had a game-sealing sack at the end of regulation but the referees elected not to throw a grounding flag, because they are bad and should feel bad:

Bush remains real good, folks. He did get thunked a couple times because he wasn't ready for tempo. He was otherwise the same guy with a bit worse luck.

He still put up a +11.5 in UFR.

Bush had just one bonafide Bad Day, that a –5.5 against Penn State when he was befuddled for much of the first half. He "got worked by Moorhead," declared this site:

Bush must have a tendency to make an instant read and go with it, because on the early speed option stuff he saw the counter step and then was gone:

#10 MLB

Okay so that happens, twice, and Moorhead is clearly in Bush's head by the time this inside zone comes around and Bush's first step is to a speed option:

#10 MLB

Bush did stop getting wildly out of position after that adjustment period, although sometimes this only set him up to get his ankles broken by Barkley. That'll happen.

A similar lost puppy event happened against MSU; when the Spartans ran one of their dozen we-saved-this-for-you plays he failed to cover the running back who eventually scored. Once that got on film and Bush worked through the tendency PSU exploited those events stopped. Like a QB that throws heaters, Bush can afford an extra split-second of reading without giving up a play, and he was better about it late in the season.

Those issues were minor compared to the plays he was turning in on the regular. For years, UFRs have come with a disclaimer that I think linebacker play is really hard and that scraping up to even is a decent accomplishment. Someone who checks in with +4 or whatever consistently is headed for the NFL, as Ben Gedeon did. Selected Bush UFR grades this year: +13.5, +8, +12, +14.5, +11.5. That is a new paradigm.

Bush should be an All-American and off to the first round of the draft. Have fun storming the castle one last time.

Gil (#36) might have the edge [Patrick Barron]

The weakside spot is home to the only genuine positional battle on this year's defense. DEVIN GIL [recruiting profile] and JOSH ROSS [recruiting profile] are the survivors from what was a four-way melee early in spring practice, and even at this late date there's little indication who will get the nod. Brown called the battle a "fistfight" just last week.

GIL has a slight experience advantage since he's been on campus a year longer and saw scattered snaps a year ago. Emphasis on "scattered": the linebacker corps almost never rotated, so Gil's non-garbage time experience was limited to an early drive against Florida when McCray was momentarily out. His snaps were so scarce he got dropped from the UFR table after that game.

Still, the tea leaves that do exist point towards him. Al Washington may have spilled a bean or two:

Washington did heap the coveted Don Brown “dude” moniker on Gil, who he added was “very smart, very football smart” and “understands the nuances naturally,” but deferred to Brown on who might be the leader right now.

Washington says, though, that when the tape comes on, the level of play stays consistent.

“If you were to sit and watch tape, sometimes you’ve got to look and see who’s actually in there because the performance is pretty consistent,” Washington said. “And that’s not giving you some generic answer, that’s sincerely what’s going on.”

And if he didn't, Chase Winovich may have when he picked some breakout players at Big Ten media day:

[Winovich] mentioned redshirt sophomore linebacker Devin Gil, who is battling for Mike McCray’s former spot with redshirt freshman James Ross. Despite bringing up Gil first and not mentioning Ross until prompted, Winovich said he has no idea who will actually end up the starter.

“No one knows,” Winovich said. “They don’t know, Coach [Don] Brown doesn’t know, God probably knows.”

Even being in the ballpark is quite a turnaround for someone who'd generated so little talk that last year's preview suggested it was getting late early for him; turns out sometimes practice reports are not accurate. In Gil's case it's also a turnaround from his recruiting profile, which palpably lacks any of the positive arrows we look for to see what Michigan saw in any particular generic three-star.

Other than "this guy is apparently leading" we don't have any information on Gil. Breathless practice reports have been focused on other guys. This isn't a huge concern since Michigan has four different second and third year players vying for this spot, three of whom come hyped up by the recruiting industry. If Gil wins the job it'll be fine.

That said, ROSS does feel like the higher-upside option. Reputed to be a lot like his brother James, who would have been a killer in a Don Brown defense, Ross got a bucket of hype last year. Webb:

Josh is two to three inches taller than his sibling and is as strong NOW as James was when he entered the draft. More specifically, Josh put up 21 reps of 225 in Ann Arbor. James brother put up 22 during his pre-draft workout. The buzz I'm hearing about Josh reminds me of what I heard about Devin Bush Jr. last year.

Nobody's saying that, exactly, this year, but when Harbaugh picked out three risers on D during spring practice they were Dwumfour, Ambry Thomas, and Ross—good company.

But that's all there's been on either guy. They are in a competition, it's really tight, and the end. It's a little weird, the lack of talk about it, but there are so many bullets in the chamber it's not worth sweating. The WLB will be good. If he's not, he'll be Josh Uche.

BACKUPS

The loser of the WLB battle is obviously first in line should something befall a starter. The ILB positions are close enough that they should be interchangeable.

still in a holding pattern [Patrick Barron/Scout]

Various young guns will vie to be the guy who replaces Bush (presumably) next year. Classmates JORDAN ANTHONY [recruiting profile] and DREW SINGLETON [recruiting profile] are both coming off redshirts. Neither has generated a ton of hype; both are highly touted recruits with good reasons to believe their careers would start a mite slowly (an ACL tear for Singleton; a career spent bouncing between LB and RB for Anthony). FWIW, Singleton lasted longer in the position battle than Anthony:

"The guys that are in there are Devin Gil, Josh Ross and Drew Singleton," Brown said. "Those three guys are in that fistfight. Coach likes to use the term 'cage match,' I guess that's what it is. ...Josh and Devin Gil are probably slightly ahead of Drew."

Anthony is trailing but Brown mentioned him as a guy who "came out of the closet and really had his best practice at the MIKE" early in fall camp. "The closet" does not sound like a place from which one gets a lot of playing time as a redshirt freshman. Another year of preparation it is.

Meanwhile the newest competitor here is perhaps the most exciting. Freshman CAM MCGRONE [recruiting profile] is such a Devin Bush (but big!) clone that it felt like his meteoric rise up recruiting rankings was due in part to Bush's prominence as a new linebacking paradigm. Opposing coach:

“At one point during our game, our guard took the wrong step and McGrone proceeded to break our quarterback in half — he’s probably still sore from that hit five months later. It should be on a highlight reel of ‘what not to do.’

He should be destined for a redshirt-and-hype season.

SAM: SURFACE TO AIR MISSILES

RATING: 4

Uche (#35) is angry and should be pointed elsewhere [Patrick Barron]

Don Brown broke out a 3-3-5 for big chunks of last year and clearly has a spot on this defense for a linebacker-ish guy that isn't any of the aforementioned dudes, so here's a new positional designation. For lack of a better term we're calling it "SAM," something that conjures up images of quasi-DEs, burly edge rushers, and a decided lack of dropping into coverage.

That is not a bad archetype for the gent mentioned second in this section, but it's not a great fit for JOSH UCHE [recruiting profile], who seems set to force his ass onto the field even if he has to fight Don Freakin' Brown to do so. Literally? Sort of?

"He's a competing animal," Brown said. "After the bowl game, we had a discussion because he wanted to play more. He wanted to fight me, I think. He wants to play. It's easy to say, 'Hey coach, I want to play. Let me play.' Go earn it, how about that? How about go earn it? Well, he's earned it. I think that's probably fair to say."

Uche channeled this anger into moving weights and getting around the corner. In year three it sounds like he's rounding into a college version of his high school self:

“(He’s) unbelievable,” Brown said. “We’re able to play him in a number of different roles and move him around. The place he makes the most explosive impact is when he pass rushes. But now, he’s an adequate cover guy over the tight ends. He’s figured out the zone pieces as well, so now he’s more of a complete player. But we can also integrate him in several areas on our football team to take the best advantage of his ability to rush the passer.”

Uche was literally the first guy Brown offered after taking the Michigan DC job because he was almost a parody of the kind of linebacker he treasures: just a guy who gets around the corner. From his recruiting profile:

Uche is a unique prospect with a relentless mentality. … Has good height with a solid build. … Shows solid instincts as a pass rusher. Will bend and turn the corner with an explosive burst to close and chase down the ball carrier. … Comes in hot and will violently throw his hands to dislodge the ball from runner. … Uche is relentless and physical.

That was as a 210-pound DE, which naturally led to questions about where he fit in college and knocked his rankings down. A couple years later he's a "competing animal" who's cracked 240 pounds and is still running 4.5 40s. Brown's reaction:

“I gave Ben Herbert a kiss on the lips for that one!”

This is a bonafide situation, here.

Uche did not have to drop 'bows on his defensive coordinator to start garnering the sort of hype that is the best case scenario for a third-year player who entered as a man without a position and is still kind of a man without a position. Persons talkin' about that Uche are saying some things:

"He's on that precipice of being a complete animal," Harbaugh said. "He really can. I see those signs -- and I'm really pulling hard for things to come his way. He's really been training like that's what he wants. This could be his time. It really could be."

Washington:

“He’s one of the most gifted in terms of edge rushers that I’ve ever been around,” Washington said. … “The kid is different, man. He’s explosive. He’s better when being confronted. With him, he was an edge rusher in high school — playing in a 2-point stance for anybody is different. But he’s made strides, man. Really proud of that kid.

“When you watch the tape, he’ll jump off. He’s very dynamic in that way. And he’s worked his tail off every way.”

And the thing is, Uche already popped out from time to time last year. This site declared his Maryland game a "2016 Winovich" kind of thing featuring a half-dozen snaps and two eye-poppers. One was this screen where his explosion to the QB made a difference:

A bit later he drove a TE all the way to the QB and helped force an interception:

#35, LB to bottom

When allowed to run a twist blitz against Florida he drove through two OL to get a sack:

#35 LB to top

After that Maryland game I thought Michigan had something there, but wondered what, exactly:

Uche keeps making a case for himself. I don't know if next year's defense has room for him since the only guy M needs to replace in an Uche-feasible position is Mike McCray. Is Uche an actual linebacker? Or is he a viper? Or is he a little DE who can't play on standard downs? Dunno. But hot dang dude can get after it.

If that was the has-to-yell-at-Don-Brown version of Uche, and he's now someone who has earned playing time, a guy who Noah Furbush is shouting out unprompted at Big Ten Media Days (“One person that is doing a lot of great things, especially in the pass rush game, is Josh Uche") and getting very Harbaugh praise... well, I'd like to see how that plays out. I mean:

When he speaks, there’s a hint of measured animosity.

Yeah buddy.

Uche's hype is real because there's no reason to puff up a guy who doesn't even have a position unless he absolutely demands it. What that means for the upcoming season is a ton of three-man lines on passing downs that insert him as the bonus havoc guy, and maybe some run at WLB if he proves just too explosive to keep off the field. Uche is the defense's X-factor. Could be a ghost, could be the drive closer.

BACKUPS EXCEPT COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

the only player to share a major (aero) with one of our photogs? [Bryan Fuller]

Uche's backup isn't really a backup since NOAH FURBUSH is an entirely different sort of player who would fill a different role in the defense. Last year that role was Defensive Fullback as Michigan used him to plow lanes for Devin Bush to exploit:

I don't understand why nobody blocks [Bush]. If I'm an offensive coordinator I might be like "okay guys, let's try to block this guy," you know?

I think it's time to talk about Noah Furbush. Michigan is playing him instead of Bryan Mone, a 330-pound tank. Why? WTKA's Ira Weintraub put it best: Furbush is Bush's fullback. His job is to blitz and get engulfed by two guys. His only goal is to prevent the guy who should be blocking Bush from doing so, and he's excellent at that. This Bush QB hit was the clearest example of Furbush's job and why he's good at it. It's subtle, but watch Furbush feint outside before diving in at the C:

#59 LB to top of screen

OL commits and then Bush is gone, doing Bush things. This is the story of virtually all of Bush's free runs into the backfield.

#59 LB just left of umpire

Furbush's combination of speed and heft draws OL attention; he is able to drive these OL after getting a running start, and the rest is rabid squirrel history.

That worked brilliantly for about half the season, but Furbush's inability to do anything else...

Furbush is a bit of a one trick pony. Reliable and tough as the designated blitz LB, but we haven't seen him scrape much if at all, and haven't seen him try to cover. It's a good trick, though: he's been effective.

...eventually made the 3-3-5 package predictable, which made it just a worse 4-2-5, which then compelled Michigan to run an actual 4-2-5. Unless Michigan is comfortable with Furbush dropping into coverage and can diversify their stack it seems like that gambit has run its course. By the time PSU rolled around they knew what to expect, and then it was over.

#59 OLB to top

Things aren't likely to be much different this year. Furbush might have a short yardage role and should be all over Michigan's special teams, but he's pretty far away from the Don Brown linebacker archetype and it'll be tough for him to carve out snaps.

Finally: since this positional designation is kind of a catch-all for odd linebacker prospects who only come out to play when Michigan lifts a DL there isn't really a backup. DREW SINGLETON did spend part of last year repping at the 3-3-5 Furbush slot and could pave the way for a more diverse 3-3-5 package if Michigan's willing to put in the time to do that.